Tip Number 1.
First, Remember the old saying … Children See - Children Do. Well, this is not just an old saying…it’s very true!
 
The tip here is to be and do who you want your children to be and what you want them to do (and btw…this goes for much more than just talking about sex!).

It seems that never before has the issue of bullying and violence being so obvious in our community and so widespread.
It has become a daily occurrence on our streets and in our news reports… and in our schools we frequently see students fighting and bullying those more vulnerable.

Shocking road rage incidents are captured almost daily by car cameras and broadcast to the world.
 
Family and domestic violence continues in all layers of our society.

Why? What’s the answer?

​It’s unfortunate that the harassment tactics of bullies that has being existent probably for all time, now surfaces in the dark side of modern technology, giving rise to Cyber Bullying.

The significant growth of such technology has led to a rapid and extensive growth in the use of email, texting, chat rooms, and mobile phones including mobile phone cameras, and social media processes that are all so common in today’s world.
It is now through these methods that many bullies have found an outlet for their often insidious and almost always destructive behaviour.

​Now, first, I have to say that I don’t entirely agree with the use of the word ‘Happy’ – this is an over-used word and frequently when we strive to be ‘happy’, it invariably eludes us… more about this in another blog!
In his article, John Obedzinski suggests 10 reasons ‘Why happy families are different’ : here they are, with some of my thoughts:

This series of ‘Surviving Adolescence’ is about supporting parents and caregivers with the delicate balancing act that is adolescence…
One of the first things to remember is that adolescence is a stage of development, a stage that is vital for the future health and well-being of the young person. It’s a stage of identity formation, thinking about the future, and development of independence.

In Parts 1 – 3 of this series, looked at adolescence as the vital stage of development for young people, moving from the protected and dependent stage of childhood, into Independence of adulthood.
Only by ‘doing it right’ can young people then move into the stage of emotionally joining with another, the stage of Interdependence.
The stage of adolescence is about forming an identity outside of the family; it’s about developing a greater understanding of the young person’s sexuality and gender orientation…

​In Part 1 of this series, we adolescence as a way of developing emotional maturity, and sexual and a social identity.
In Part 2, we took a closer look at some of the tasks of adolescence.
In this, Part 3, I will give you an overview of the development of a sexual identity of an adolescent.
But first a brief re-cap:
Remember that an important part of adolescence is the movement from the stage of Dependence to the stage of Independence – this is where the young person emotionally, psychologically, and physically moves away from the family to become a part of the wider world.

In Part 1 of this series, we found out that adolescence is about:

• Growing toward emotional maturity

• Developing a sexual identity
• Developing a ‘social’ identity

 
And we learned that underlying this stage of Independence, is the need for the young person to break away from family and find her or his place in the wider world.
In Part 2 of Surviving Adolescence we’re going to look a little more closely at the stage of:

It’s been said that there is only one stage of life more difficult than being a teenager… and that’s being the parent of one!
Before we look at this fascinating stage of life, let’s get an understanding of where the word ‘adolescent’ came from…